Edmonton's Justin Schultz (19) celebrates his goal during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Jesse Joensuu (6) takes Nashville's David Legwand (11) into the boards during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Jordan Eberle (14) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) hassle Nashville's Colin Wilson (33) during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) makes a save during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) can't stop Nashville's David Legwand (11) from scoring during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Nashville's Nick Spaling (13) and David Legwand (11) celebrate Legwand's goal during the first period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Taylor Hall (4) goes down in front of Nashville's goalie Carter Hutton (30) during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Ryan Jones (28) is slammed into the boards by Nashville's Michael Del Zotto (18) during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Justin Schultz (19) can't get past Nashville's goalie Carter Hutton (30) during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Ryan Smyth (94) celebrates his goal on Nashville's goalie Carter Hutton (30) during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Martin Marincin (85) is called out by Nashville's Patric Hornqvist (27) for knocking the net off its moorings during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Martin Marincin (85) and Nail Yakupov (64) celebrate Yakupov's goal as Nashville's Seth Jones (3) skates off during the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's David Perron (57) pursues Nashville's Colin Wilson (33) during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) keeps his eye on the puck during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) shuts the door on Nashville's Paul Gaustad (28) during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) is crushed by Nashville's Taylor Beck (41) during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) stops Nashville's Gabriel Bourque (57) during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates his goal on Nashville's goalie Carter Hutton (30) during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's Ryan Smyth (94) and goalie Ben Scrivens (30) celebrate their win during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun

Edmonton's goalie Ben Scrivens (30) waves at the crowd after being named first star of the game during the third period of the Edmonton Oilers' NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. The Oilers won 5-1. Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Topics

People were kind of getting a little worried for a while there, but the Edmonton Oilers stopped six games worth of bleeding Sunday with a convincing 5-1 decision over the Nashville Predators.

It was their first win in 16 days and just their fifth since Dec. 10 and you could tell by the volume in the post-game dressing room that a very heavy burden had been lifted off some slumping shoulders.

“We’ve had a tough year, obviously, and to get a win...,” said defenceman Justin Schultz, who didn’t need to finish the thought. “I think we played a pretty good full 60. The third period wasn’t our best, but any time you get a win, especially with the losing streak that we were on,it feels really good.”

When you’re 29th in the league, almost every game is win is an upset, but this one really was a shocker. The Predators have been a model of consistency lately, suffering just four regulation losses in their previous 15 starts (7-4-4) while the Oilers have been the exact opposite - four wins in their previous 21 games.

But it didn’t quite play out the way the standings said it should.

But after three one-goal losses in a row, newcomer Ben Scrivens had a feeling the Oilers were ready to break out.

“I thought we should have kept our heads up after the Vancouver game,” said Scrivens, who stopped 34 of 35 shots in his first win as an Oiler. “Against Winnipeg, I thought we played pretty well even though the results didn’t go our way. Even the last game against Phoenix, probably not the first period we wanted but I thought we had two solid periods after that.

“It’s going to be a matter of just working on the little things in our game but from where I am, and granted, I’m new around here, but I see a lot of positives that we can build off of

“It’s a learning curve and hopefully we took a good step forward today.”

After spending most of Friday’s post-game interviews trying to explain their slow starts, the Oilers decided to get it going early in this one, with Schultz scoring at 2:59 after some solid down-low work from the line of Luke Gazdic, Jesse Joensuu and Ryan Smyth.

“It was nice to get a lead for once,” said Schultz. “This year we’ve kind of been struggling out of the gate so it was nice to see us come out hard and get a lead and hold it for the rest of the game.”

Nashville squared it on David Legwand’s goal at 15:25, but the Oilers finished the period like they started it, with Jordan Eberle scoring on a goal-mouth tap-in, courtesy of a nice Taylor Hall pass at 19:48. It marked just the 13th time in 54 games that the Oilers held a lead at the first intermission.

“Anytime you score late in the period it kind of takes the momentum into the next period,” said Eberle, who liked the balanced attack on a night when 14 of 18 skaters were on the ice for at least one Oilers goal. “It’s great. You have that depth, Smytty’s line and Gag’s line scored tonight and Gordon’s line is out there shutting down other lines. With the best teams in the league, the depth is always there.”

The Oilers took over in the second, with Smyth Nail Yakupov scoring to make it 4-1.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 5-1 late in the third.

And the room was buzzing.

“It’s crazy how that works,” said Eberle. “It was nice to finally get one here.”

ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@Sunmedia.ca

TWITTER.com/SUN_TYCHKOWSKIYou can’t lose ‘em all.

People were kind of getting a little worried for a while there, but the Edmonton Oilers set their fans at ease Sunday when they snapped a six-game losing streak with a convincing 5-1 decision over the Nashville Predators.

It was just their fifth win since Dec. 10

When you’re 29th in the league, almost every game is win is a monumental upset, but this one really was a shocker. The Predators have been a model of consistency lately, suffering just four regulation losses in their last 15 starts (7-4-4) while the Oilers have been the exact opposite - four wins in their last 21 games.

But it didn’t quite play out the way the standings said it should.

After spending most of the Friday’s post-game interviews trying to explain their slow starts, the Oilers decided to get it going early in this one, with Justin Schultz scoring at 2:59 after some solid down-low work from the line of Luke Gazdic, Jesse Joensuu and Ryan Smyth.

Nashville squared it on David Legwand’s goal at 15:25, but the Oilers finished the period like they started it, with Jordan Eberle scoring on a goal-mouth tap-in, courtesy of a nice Taylor Hall pass at 19:48.

•• Come back soo for post-game quotes **

It marked just the 13th time in 54 games that the Oilers held a lead at the first intermission.

The lull that many fans have come to expect from the Oilers didn’t come in the second period. In fact, the Oilers poured it on some more, making it 3-1 on a power play goal from Ryan Smyth and 4-1 when Nail Yakupov scored his first since Jan. 7.